Will learning ColdFusion help me advance my programming skills?

I agree with pretty much what said. If your job requires to learn Coldfusion then do it (you are paid for this also, right? So not too much arguing here.). Coldfusion is a niche language, used mostly in corporations. But also learn Python and Ruby on Rails (Ruby especially). These are more of programming languages that Coldfusion is. If you are determined to stay a front end programmer then Javascript is a necessarily language to add to your toolbox (Javascript started to be used on the backend too - node.js for example - so that's double advantage if you learn it). HTML5 and CSS3, these you have to learn by default.

I'm not a developer. I have been known to develop though. I loved ColdFusion, it was so easy to use, I was making all sorts of pretty cool things that would have been SO much harder for me in PHP and I don't use Microsoft tools at all, not for religious reasons, just, I'm not a developer, I'm more of a multimedia guy who gets tricked into coding sometimes. I always had trouble with it though. ColdFusion is pretty expensive, does not seem to work that great in shared hosting environments and I was always having trouble talking organizations into going with it. I really liked it, but a few years ago when I was making some skills adjustments, I decided to quit ColdFusion and focus more on the LAMP stack, and now the LEMP stack. There are some nice PHP frameworks like symfony, etc. Ruby/Rails, Python/Django, etc are all thriving. If you have to use it for your job, do it, get paid, but I'd keep your eye and focus even on the other technologies you mentioned. The Economist and BMW used to use ColdFusion for their websites. They don't anymore. I don't know of a major website that does off the top of my head at the moment. tl;dr I loved ColdFusion, I would not bother to learn it if I didn't have to

ColdFusion will help you be a better programmer... if you're programming with ColdFusion. Every language has its own nuances, debugging styles and syntax.  What I can say is that if someone comes to you and requests a website in a snap, ColdFusion is not only fairly easy to pick up but exceeds in rapid application development.  Often times, the person who asks you to program off the cuff doesn't care what language you program in, so long as you get it done quick and it does what they want it to do. If you're talking about a language that has employment opportunities, alas there are more employment opportunities for other languages than ColdFusion.  I would check your area for the demand.

ColdFusion is as much a programming language as PHP, Python, or anything  else out there. Anyone that's used it since V.6 can attest to it's power as a tool for rapid web development. I've been using it for almost 15 years, and I'm still learning the esoterica of the language, While there is a cost associated with purchasing Adobe ColdFusion, that cost is negated in the short amount of time that it takes a developer to ramp up compared to PHP, Python, .Net etc. There are open source options, namely Railo and Open Blue Dragon, both are over 90% compliant with Adobe ColdFusion and they're both free. ColdFusion plays very well in shared server enivironments. at it's base its Java running on a J2EE Platform. ColdFusion is used by many high profile companies and sites, BMW, Goodyear, Hasbro, Politico all use it, along with the University of North Carolina, NC State, University of Pennsylvania and the US Federal Government, to date there are over 800,000 CF developers world wide and the strongest developer community in the industry. Should you learn ColdFusion..  by all means YES!!

ColdFusion will definitely help you be a better developer in case you're continuing practicing with ColdFusion. ColdFusion is as much a programming language as PHP, Python. http://cfdevshop.com/ is genuinely simple to get as well as exceeds in rapid application development. If you are determined to stay a front end programmer then is an essentially language to add to your tool expertise (JavaScript can be utilized on the backend as well for instance node.js.

Oh the age old question.... I love how people against CF always mention price right away; then after that they mention how it doesn't play well on shared server....Well guess what: 1 - you get what you pay for. The time saved in using CF over other more laborious languages will pay for itself; I can write in 5 lines of ColdFusion what those php fanboys would need 50 lines to accomplish. 2 - if you are SERIOUS about CF development you won't have a shared box. (oh snap) But I digress... I would suggest mainly focusing on front end - no matter what else you decide to venture into having this well established base to work from can only help you in the future. If you have access to an environment where you can practice ColdFusion I say go for it secondarily. You don't HAVE to do one or the other; because CF is a mainly tag based language it can really go hand in hand with learning the layout stuff. If you already have a decent html knowledge then CF should come VERY naturally to you. I don't always write stunningly powerful dynamic code, but when I do, I use ColdFusion...Stay Geeky My Friends.

I just want to add that ColdFusion has not declined in popularity, it just has not grown its share of the java world (That is, Java has grown but ColdFusions share of that market has remained static at 2 or 3% of the total). Beware though, if you imitate the wrong code you can learn some poor practices. This is the double edged sword of CF. Its chief virtue is its ease of use, its chief flaw is its ease of use.

Stay focused on a few things and get really good at them. Build a foundation that you can use to learn more things. Don't spread yourself thin trying to learn everything.